Just a Shell
by CodeNameTargeter
Summary: They have taken everything from her; her life, her family, all she has left are her children. But now, she has nothing. She is just a shell. COMPLETED!


She smiles sadly as she watches her sleeping children. They will be special, she knows this. Although she is not Force sensitive by any means, the Force has given her some insight to what will happen to these innocent beings and what they will do. They will destroy what she inadvertently created through love which was forbidden.  
  
A hand touches her shoulder and she looks up, hoping for a moment that it would be him. But instead, she turns and faces a man she has known and trusted for over half of her life.  
  
"They must leave here soon," he says, his voice is filled with sympathy that she knows is true.  
  
"I know," she replies slowly. "But they are so young still."  
  
Another voice now speaks, from below waist level. "Then if captured these younglings are, easier for him to turn them it will be."  
  
Sighing, she at last nods. "But can I not at least know where they are going?"  
  
The short one shakes his head. "No, too risky it is. Captured, you could be."  
  
She feels her lower lip being to tremble, almost as if she has now control over what her body does. Almost hesitantly, the man places what can be called a comforting hand on her shoulder. The small green alien looks up at her, sympathy in his eyes.  
  
She wipes away a tear she does not even remember shedding and smiles slightly at the two. "I'm sorry; I've just been a bit emotional lately." She draws herself up and a hint of how she used to be is seen in her stance. "The people who are taking them, are they good people?"  
  
The males exchange glances and then nod. The tall one says, "yes, you could trust them with your life."  
  
She frowns slightly. "Who are they?"  
  
"You know them I believe," the man replies.  
  
She becomes curious and a hint of a smile appears on her face. "Who?"  
  
He winces slightly and shakes his head. "I've said too much already, milady."  
  
She sighs and her regal stance of before disappears.  
  
"Despair you should not. To protect them it is," the small one says, sensing her current mood.  
  
She nods and sits in a chair beside the cradles, her head in her knees. She says nothing and becomes only a shell of the woman she once was. The two males exchange glances and leave quietly, only laying a comforting hand on her shoulder or her knee for a brief moment before removing it.  
  


* * *

  
Two weeks later, they are both back and she is still a mere shell of the woman that she was. This time, a woman is with them and her face is sad, an image of her own.  
  
The man once more lays a hand on her shoulder. "it is time," he says, regret and sympathy in his voice.  
  
She wipes away tears and nods, managing a slight smile. This will be for their safety. She knows she must do this no matter how much it hurts her. Picking up the elder of her children, she smiles at the sleeping boy and kisses him gently on the forehead and passes him to the man. She turns around again and picks up the younger child. She hugs the girl close to her before finally kissing her gently on the forehead and passing her to the woman who looks so much like her.  
  
"Take care of them," she whispers, her voice choking up with emotion. The man nods and the woman steps up to hug her. She subconsciously returns the hug and then she steps back once more, away from the others, alone. For that is what she is now, alone. For a moment, she had been the mother, but now she is the shell. The one who is alone. No more can these children comfort her.  
  
The small green one nods knowing and she feels a wave of comfort wash over her, as if it would take away her pain, her feelings, her emotions. But she prefers her pain to nothing. For is not having emotions and feeling how you know you are alive?  
  
"Leave now we must," he says, "Draw him to here with our presence, we will. When here we are, in danger you will be."  
  
The shell of who she was nods, almost mechanically, and manages a sad smile. "Of course, keep them safe for me."  
  
"We will, milady," the woman says comfortingly and the other two nod with agreement. Moments later, they are gone and now she is truly alone. She sits there silently and time now no longer has nay meaning to her.  
  
Two days, two weeks, perhaps even two months later, she is still there, only an empty shell.  
  
A squad of white armored men burst unto her apartment, breaking down the door and they surround her, blasters pointed at her. A tall black armored [i]thing[/i] enters behind them. She knows him, or at least she thought she did. But he is no longer the man she knew.  
  
"Where are they?" she hears him ask, his voice low and menacing.  
  
"I don't know what you're talking about," she responds slowly, still but a shell.  
  
"I know they were here. Do not try to lie to me."  
  
She cringes inwardly, but forces herself to stay strong. "If the ones of whom you speak [i]were[/i] here, then they are here no longer. I am alone."  
  
He takes another step forward so she is looking directly at his armor. "It is treason to harbor a Jedi, do not make me kill you," he says, lowering his voice slightly.  
  
"You can do nothing worse to me than what you have already done. I would welcome death," she spits back defiantly, as some of her old fire reawakens and beings to retake the empty shell she was before. She cannot see his face behind the black helmet he wears, but she knows him well enough to tell he's angry at her, very angry.  
  
"You [i]will[/i] tell me their location, Senator, one way or another."  
  
She smiles sadly, regret visible in her eyes. "One cannot be a Senator if one's planet is destroyed. And it does not matter what you do to me, because I do not know their location."  
  
A black hand comes out grasps her slender white throat. She smiles as she slaps a hidden button on her arm of her chair and she pulls out a small Nubian blast pistol. Before anyone can stop her, she aims the blaster at her head and fires, ending her life.  
  
Darth Vader removes his hand from her throat and lets the body of Padmé Amidala Nabarrie-Skywalker fall imply to the floor. He feels no emotion at her death. After a moment, he turns around and stalks out.  
  
His search still continues.  
  
-Finite- 


End file.
